Rickson Gracie Complains ‘Diluted’ Jiu-Jitsu is Becoming a ‘Very Athletic Sport’

If you had a record of 2-6 he’d fight you. More than once.

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Providing you had an aura.

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I think maybe that is why I am making the argument I am as well.

I can’t stand their arrogance.

I think you and Hillbo said it best as they were great promoters more than anything.

I think Rorion perfectly exemplified this when saying they thought about having live sharks around the ring and settled on a cage. Purely as a spectacle. Great promoters. Especially for those who had never heard of Vale Tudo before.

Am I correct in assuming they basically brought Vale Tudo to America, but chose matchups specifically to have Royce beat bigger guys (who they knew ahead of time he could beat with BJJ because of their opposing skillsets or lack thereof) in order to promote Gracie Jiu Jitsu to the US audiences?

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Just to clarify

His BJJ competition record has highlights on it, but is almost as unimpressive as his mma career

  • this is coming from a novice at BJJ
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Rickson kind of sounds like the old timers from the NFL, NBA, MLB, etc who complain about how much better their sports and the people in them were back when they’d play.

Despite the fact that a modern era team would mop the floor with them.

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Sport BJJ has become a buch of nerds on Tren but-scooting towards each other

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Random question…

I’ve heard from a guy that rolled with Rickson that is a blackbelt that Rickson just smashes you like you are nothing.

Does Gordon Ryan tap Rickson if Rickson is 25 again?

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current Gordon by armbar

pre jacked Gordon would be a better match

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Gi is diluted. No Gi is great.

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Your take on it is the same as mine.

Rorion is a master marketer, no doubt about it. Nobody knew shit about Brazil or BJJ and he took full advantage of it.

The Gracie diet (their food groups) is total BS from what I understand.

Rorion did things like keeping Oleg out of the UFC because he knew what the outcome could/would be.

The Gracies didn’t invent BJJ or train under Koma.

The Graces were not the best at BJJ or Vale Tudo.

From what I understand basically Hélio and Carlos were egomaniacal sociopaths. Carlson broke away from the family because he didn’t believe BJJ was all you needed and Hélio was also trying to control him to promote the Gracie name.

Rickson Gracie never once put himself up against tough competition while criticising others.

Renzo fought everyone and made no excuses.

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I am not a street fighter/tough guy but the one thing I think I find most absurd about the whole thing is the idea that early UFC fights (NHB) were “actual fights”. They were not. It had fight attire, rings, rules, medical attention, mats, no knives etc. Call it what you will but it wasn’t “fighting”.

If you haven’t seen his stuff, look up Geoff Thompson. He was a bouncer in one of the most violent clubs in Europe. He started off in traditional karate and got all the way to black belt but said himself he was terrified of getting into a fight. To overcome his fear, he asked for a job in this club and learned how to fight. He said the top 2 most effective fighting arts are Western boxing and Judo - Western boxing because concussive punching is the first line of defence/attack whereas kicking is dangerous and Judo because you can throw a person that grabs you and dictate where you will both land.

He said he is had to pick a 3rd, it would be BJJ. He said you absolutely never, ever go to the ground unless you absolutely have to because of others joining in, getting smashed into concrete etc. He has a load of instructionals out there and, while he covers throws, trips, locks, ground positions, chokes etc, the majority of his stuff is based off of hitting first. He said if he had one piece of advice, it would be “Learn to hit fucking hard”.

“95% of fights end up on the ground!” So if the Gracie system is effective, why don’t they have methods for hitting fucking hard as all fights start standing up? It’s a sport.

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Except Rickson did it while he was - or could have been - an active competitor.

Ok ?. .

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This thread is like a flashback to the early 2000s. I love it.

I’ve said in other threads and I’ll say here, if you want to destroy the Rickson myths just read Rickson’s own autobiography. For whatever reason, he decided it was time to kill off the majority of it himself.

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Something I need to do.

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Who had the original thread about his book?

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I remember Ryron Gracie saying he was with Hélio in Brazil and someone cut him off in the street then pulled over. Hélio told him he had to get out and fight him right there. Putting pressure on people to fight like that is terrible. Raising kids like that is child abuse.

Yes, get out of your car and fight a random guy in fucking Brazil of all places. Very safe.

Coincidentally, Geoff Thompson said the best way to defend yourself is to get in your car, roll up the windows and drive away.

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Even the no-gi competitions?

Here is Ryron talking about it. It was actually a guy who’s car Hélio hit. If this doesn’t convince you Hélio was a fucking asshole, nothing will.

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When it first came out? No idea, but it was a few years ago so would be on the Altaground.